More schools in and around the Eastern Cape’s rural areas and townships, are connecting to the internet through the establishment of a telecommunications network. The network would be made up of points- of- presence labs, situated in local schools, and are open to the community.
More schools in and around the Eastern Cape’s rural areas and townships, are connecting to the internet through the establishment of a telecommunications network. The network would be made up of points- of- presence labs, situated in local schools, and are open to the community.
The field test site is called the Siyakhula living lab (SLL), an experimental ICT initiative based in the Dwesa community in the Transkei. This initiative was started by Prof. Alferdo Terzoli, head of the Telkom Centre of Excellence at Rhodes University.
The network was started in 2008 as a joint venture between Rhodes and the University of Fort Hare.
The living lab is not only a room with computers, however. It is also about the people inside the labs. It is like an eco-system, which is focused on a community orientated, integrated eServices solutions, explains Terzoli. “It aims to provide an infrastructure, physical, mental and technical solutions to enable communities to come up with new processes, ideas and products that will improve life in those communities.”
The SLL’s achievements so far include establishing one of the first rural WiMAX networks in South Africa.This initiative provides internet to the community via five main schools, creating an e-Commerce website for local arts and crafts, as well as computer training courses for teachers and members of the Dwesa community.
Terzoli is currently in negotiations to source more computers for the project.
One of the schools taking full advantage of the benefits of the project is Ngwane Secondary School which has a functioning lab with 20 computers, and has added computer literacy courses to their syllabus.
